Let’s not be too academic

A challenge to the pragmatists, who are critiqued as enablers of harmful ideology. “The infrastructure of justice demands philosophical literacy, historical consciousness, and moral seriousness—precisely what pragmatists abandoned for speed and supposed relevance.”

The infrastructure of justice demands philosophical literacy, historical consciousness, and moral seriousness—precisely what pragmatists abandoned for speed and supposed relevance.

The irony is exquisite. In striving to avoid ideology, pragmatists become its most effective agents. In dismissing politics, they entrench the status quo. In scorning theory, they deprive themselves of the only tools capable of naming real forces at work.

We inhabit the ruins of their success—a world where “evidence-based” wards off the harder work of transforming political structures. Hell, indeed, is paved with good intentions—but often staffed by performance coaches and design thinking facilitators.